JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Outraged parents have been pouring into the News4JAX I-TEAM about a mix-up involving the graduation gowns for seniors at Jean Ribault High School.
According to parents, the gowns that were ordered were misprinted with the “Class of 2022″ on them instead of “Class of 2023.”
Jostens is the outside vendor in charge of personalizing the gowns.
A statement sent to parents from the school’s principal, Gregory Bostic, mentioned that the printing company is trying to resolve the issue but there are no guarantees that it will be corrected by graduation, which is Wednesday, May 31 at the University of North Florida Arena at 1 p.m.
Bostic also said that the issue is not a fault of the school’s negligence.
Andrea Cummings told News4JAX that a student noticed the typo.
“As a parent, I am very upset not only for myself, my child, but other parents, because they have worked very hard to be able to display their pride in their appropriate graduating gear,” Cummings said.
Her son, Jayce Cummings, who is a graduating senior, expressed his reaction to the mishap.
“My first impression was, Oh, they messed up big time. At first, I was like, I don’t really care. We’re graduating, but I had really thought about it. And I was like, This isn’t right. We’re supposed to be the graduating class of 23. It’s supposed to be our year, he said.
Cummings also said that they had to pay full price for the cap and gowns.
“We paid for a service, so we will like to have what it is that we paid for,” Cummings said.
Parents expressed that they do not blame the school’s administration but are hoping this can be resolved by graduation.
“You only get one time to be a senior. You only get one time to walk across that stage. And it doesn’t have that unique flair,” Jayce said.
The principal’s full statement is below:
Trojan families I wanted to reach out to touch base about our senior’s gowns. As most of you know, all of our gowns were misprinted with “Class of 2022.” I cannot express how disappointed I am with the company for misprinting the gowns. I am in constant communication with the company, but as an outside vendor there is little, I can do to ensure that this is corrected in time.
At first, Jostens promised to have this fixed at Baccalaureate, but they have come back and said they cannot make it by then. They are trying to have it corrected by Wednesday for graduation but are making no guarantees.
I wanted to reiterate that this is not the school’s fault, not Dr. Bostic’s fault, etc. Again, I am so disappointed this happened.
The I-TEAM has reached out to Bostic and the printing company for comment but has not heard back.